Potere Dei Re (Power of the King)
by Crexendo
Summary: Ouma Shu thought it was the end. But then a certain black-haired, violet-eyed demon appeared before him... Cross posted from my Ao3 account.
1. Primus Rex (First King)

Shu gazed out the massive window, out towards the vast, luscious grounds of Pendragon Palace, which lay deep in the heart of the Holy Britannian Empire.

It was strange to him; just a week ago, he had been betrayed by his followers as he led them to freedom outside the GHQ controlled Loop 7 of what was left of Tokyo, almost killed by a dear comrade who had seemingly returned from the dead, and left to die by everyone he'd known and loved, abandoned by the kingdom he was rightfully entitled to. But today, he'd woken up lying in a grand, plush bed, in what he learned to be one of the many suite rooms in the Royal wing of the Britannian Imperial Palace, thousands of miles away from the kingdom that had rejected him.

It had been the Emperor of Britannia himself that had contacted him in the early hours of the morning, nearly seven days ago, when Shu and his only ally in the world at the moment, Yuzuriha Inori, had been hiding out in an abandoned office building. The Emperor had appeared surprisingly young, not much older than Shu himself, and he had dark raven hair and brilliant amethyst eyes, pale skin and a delicate, yet regal looking face.

_-"Greetings, Ouma Shu. I am Lelouch Vi'Britannia, Emperor of the Holy Britannian Empire. I realize this sudden communicate must be surprising and unexpected, and you may not believe it, but I'd like to off you my assistance, as one king to another."-_

Shu had been within the grasp of an infectious fever from the lack of proper treatment of his severed arm, and had been mostly convinced that he was hallucinating, and was unable to answer coherently. _'Why would the ruler of the only country that had the means and power to stand up to the United Forces alone, be calling me and offering his help?'_ It had to have been an illusion, he'd reasoned.

But it had been Inori who had talked with the young Emperor, seeing that Shu wasn't capable of doing so himself. "Shu . . . ." she'd murmured, "he's hurt. There's no way out of here. They're hunting him. His arm . . . he's really sick . . . ."

Lelouch's half-benevolent, half-smug expression did not change, _-"I understand, Yuzuriha Inori-san."-_

Inori's eyes narrowed at the use of her name, but she continued speaking, "Can you get him out?" she said, "Out of this place . . . to somewhere safe . . . ?"

_-"Of course I can. Since Ouma Shu isn't in any condition to negotiate with me himself, we will wait until he's recovered from his wounds to discuss more . . . pressing matters. I'll be sending three of my most trusted followers to retrieve the two of you. Is this acceptable, Yuzuriha-san?"-_

Inori glanced down at Shu, whose half-lidded brown gaze was uncomprehending and unnaturally bright. He needed to get his arm treated immediately before the fever raging through his body got any worse. "How will we know these . . . followers of yours?" she asked skeptically.

Lelouch's smile widened slightly, as he was impressed by this girl's survival instincts. _-"Their names are Jeremiah Gottwald, C.C., and Kururugi Suzaku. When they arrive, ask them who, they serve. They will reply, 'Zero, Knight of Justice'. Should they reply with anything other than that, they are not my agents. Does that suffice?"-_

Inori had agreed, not that she'd necessarily trusted the purple-eyed angel-man-king, but with Shu's condition having been what it was, she'd feared she didn't have much of a choice. After making him as comfortable as possible, she'd left Shu in his feverish daze to wait downstairs in the shadows for the too-perfect, too-knowledgeable Emperor's subordinates, careful to keep her gun within easy reach. She didn't have to wait long.

Sure enough, a slight woman with long blonde hair, clad in white, a tall teenage boy with curly brown hair and emerald eyes and another tall male with bluish hair and a strange, yet ornate orange half mask on one side of his face, approached the building. Inori drew her gun, holding it tightly, ready to eliminate them, should they turn out to be the enemy. The three strangers at the foot of the stairs, gazing at her hiding place like they knew she was there.

"Are you Yuzuriha Inori-san?" the green-eyed male asked in a polite, non-threatening tone.

"Who are you?" Inori demanded, letting the names the Britannian Emperor had said run through her head.

"Kururugi Suzaku." The brown-haired teen said.

"Jeremiah Gottwald, at your service, my lady." The blue-haired male announced with a bow.

"I'm C.C." the blonde woman with the startlingly bright amber eyes said softly, a faint smile on her lips.

"Who . . . do you serve . . . ?" the pinkette girl asked, only slightly less wary as the names matched up.

"Zero, Knight of Justice." The three of them replied in unison, without even a moment's hesitation.

Relief flooded through Inori's veins as she lowered her gun, stepping out from the broken pillar she'd concealed herself behind. "Shu . . . . Shu's upstairs . . . please hurry. He's badly hurt."

Shu had struggled as much as he could when approached by three hazy people whose voices and hands were defiantly not Inori's. Then there was Inori's soft, breathy voice, tight with some unknown emotion, the feel of her soft, cool hands on his burning face, "It's alright, Shu." She called soothingly, trying to get him to relax, "these people . . . they're here to help you."

What happened after that was all a blur to Shu; words, sounds, images, sensations, they all morphed together into one disjointed, distorted mess, all blended together until he'd woken up that morning, suddenly and surprisingly full of clarity. At first, he hadn't known where he was, and nearly panicked, but a servant who had come in a few minutes after his initial awakening had been kind enough to inform him that he was in the wing reserved for royal guests inside Pendragon Palace, at the center of Pendragon City, the capital of the Holy Britannian Empire, that he'd lain in a fever-induced delirium for close to five days since he'd arrived, and that his fever had finally broken late the night before.

"His Majesty, the Emperor is most anxious to meet you in person, Ouma-dono. I will inform him you are fully awake." The young man with scruffy blonde hair and dark brown eyes said, bowing low to Shu once again, turning to leave.

"Wait!" Shu called after him suddenly.

The servant stopped and turned back, "Yes, Ouma-dono?"

"Where is my . . . companion, Yuzuriha Inori?" he asked slowly, still wary of this whole situation.

The blonde thought for a moment, "Yuzuriha-sama is with Her Highness, Princess Nunnali, and Lady C.C., I believe. Would you like me to also inform her of your awakening, Ouma-dono?" he said.

"Yes . . . please." Shu answered quietly.

"Will that be all, Ouma-dono?"

Shu nodded, "Yes. Thank you."

The servant had left and this was where Shu found himself, standing in front of the window, gazing upon a land that was not his own, a land not destroyed and devastated by war and the Apocalypse Virus . . . . It was a beautiful sight that filled him with a sort of enraged, envious sorrow. He put a hand up to feel the stump of his arm, which was now clean, neatly bandaged, and nearly pain-free, memories flickering through his mind unbidden and unwanted, but so strikingly clear. _'I almost died . . . would that have made everything better? Would that have saved everyone . . . ?'_

"Shu!" the sound of a familiar voice calling his name startled him out of his shell of thoughts.

He turned quickly, "Inori!"

The petit pink-haired girl ran up to him, throwing her arms around him, burying her face in his bare chest. "You're okay . . . Shu . . . !" she whispered.

"Yeah . . . I'm okay." Shu murmured back, wrapping his one complete arm around the girl's shoulders.

It was then he noticed that Inori's stained, torn, dirty black butterfly cloak was gone, and that she was clad in a stylish, beautiful dress, in the fashion of Britannian royalty. It was crimson red in color, embroidered with gold braiding around the edges of the close fitting long sleeves, the v-neckline, and the delicate waistline that gave way to a floor-length skirt, though it had a long cut up the left side, revealing much of Inori's pale left leg, wrapped in sheer white silk stockings, which ended with her small feet clad in dark red satin flats, trimmed with the same gold braiding. Her bright pink hair was in its usual style, but with the addition of a brilliant red rose tucked behind one ear, and it almost made Shu sigh with relief when he caught sight of Inori's handgun strapped to her exposed thigh. She looked like a Britannian princess, minus the gun.

Shu opened his mouth to attempt a compliment on how pretty she looked, but a new voice stopped him.

"That's wonderful, Inori-chan!"

Both Shu and Inori turned in the direction of the voice, surprised. A young girl with long, wavy pale brown hair and bright blue eyes sat smiling delightedly at them from her wheelchair. Behind her, loosely gripping the handles of the chair was the same blonde woman who appeared in Shu's convoluted memories of the past seven days.

"Your Prince is okay! I'm so glad~!" the girl in the wheelchair gushed, clapping her small hands in excitement.

"Nunnali-hime-chan . . . ." Inori said softly.

Shu blinked, looking from Inori to the crippled girl, "You're . . . Princess Nunnali?"

Nunnali nodded, "Inori-chan has told me all about you Shu-kun! Welcome to Pendragon Palace. My big brother has been very excited and I can only assume it's because you're here~!"

"Y . . . Your brother, Your Highness?" Shu echoed, confused.

"Lelouch, the Emperor, is my older brother." Nunnali replied cheerily, as if it were the most normal thing in the world for one's older brother to be the ruler of a very large and powerful country that no one had yet dared face head-on.

Shu recalled what he knew about the infamous Emperor Lelouch Vi'Britannia.

It had only been a few years since the young king had shaken the whole world by taking the throne by storm, supposedly by killing off the previous Emperor, his own father, but since then, numerous changes had happened within the vast Britannian Empire. Lelouch had almost completely revolutionized the entire kingdom by abolishing the aristocracy, long known for its corruption and greed, and by returning control of previously conquered areas back to their original leaders.

He'd destroyed all symbols of his father and had taken an almost autocratic hold on his own government, exerting complete and total authority over his realm. And yet, the people adored him, they sang his praises everywhere, the high nobility almost willingly gave up their power to him for some reason, and supported and endorsed everything he did, and his siblings, the other princes and princesses of Britannia, raised no objections when he took the throne, claiming to have murdered the former Emperor.

The military was under Lelouch's sole control, and it was a well known fact that the young Emperor was a tactical genius, one who could predict the enemy's movements by reading the very nature of those in command, and he was so feared on the battlefield, that not even the United Forces dared try and 'bring the tyrant to justice'.

And then there was all the talk of the illustrious Knight of Zero, Kururugi Suzaku, a former Japanese citizen who had willingly left behind his Apocalypse Virus-devastated country to follow the then Eleventh Prince of Britannia. No one really knew how the two of them had met, or why the Knight continued to serve the Emperor, but there were a multitude of rumors flying around about the two of them.

All in all, Shu decided that above everything else, Lelouch was a very powerful ally, as well as a very dangerous enemy, if there ever came a time when they stood against each other. 'But what does he want with me . . . ? Why would he go out of his way to get me and Inori out of Tokyo?'

"Shu . . . ?" Inori's voice again penetrated his gloomy mental meanderings, making him realize that he'd been staring off into space once again.

"It's nothing, I was just thinking . . . ." he assured her with a half-hearted smile.

"I think Brother and Suzaku are in a meeting right now, so we have some time to find you some clothes, Shu-kun, and then we can all have some breakfast. Does that sound good?" Nunnali said, glancing up at the woman who was pushing her wheelchair.

The woman nodded and her lips curved up a bit, yet her eyes, staring straight at Shu, gleamed knowingly for some indeterminate reason. The look sent a chill down Shu's spine, and made him wonder if he'd just walked into a trap of some sorts.

* * *

_"Are you certain, C.C.?"_

_"Yes. The power Ouma Shu exhibited, the power given to him by the Void Genome, is very similar to that of a Geass. Every living person has Geass cells in them, a like an infant, sleeping Geass power, dormant and unnoticed. As I've told you before, Lelouch, those with a higher amount of Geass cells inside them are more likely to attract a contract, but, keeping in mind that a few people have such vast amounts of Geass cells, they can actually awaken their Geass power themselves, through sheer force of will. I suspect that whatever that thing was that fell from space ten years ago, causes genomic resonance in the Geass cells in normal people, causing them to mutate. It's like being granted a Geass without the contract, but because there is nothing to stabilize the activation of the Geass cells, there is nothing stopping the cell mutation. Thus, the Apocalypse Virus."_

_"And what of the Void Genome itself?"_

_"The Void Genome is a phenomena that is unlike anything I've ever come across. It's the man-made equivalent of the contract you and I share, Lelouch. It grants a specific Geass-like power to a person injected with it, without the need a contract to stabilize the cells, because the cells are already stable."_

_"So . . . it could be used to create a large number of Geass-users without the need of the immortal contract."_

_"Theoretically, anyways. I imagine that it's incredibly hard to produce such genomes, not to mention that they'd all have the same power. And the certain qualifications have to be met for the Void Genome to actually bond successfully to the subject."_

_"Yes, as far as we've been able to discover, they were only able to make three Void Genomes. The current whereabouts of the first one are unknown, despite my efforts. The second was consumed by Ouma Shu, recently stolen by Tsutsugami Gai. And the third still remains within the grasp of the GHQ . . . . Is it really that hard to bind with the Genome?"_

_"I'd say it's a miracle that Shu even survived the bonding. There is a very limited percentage of people who have the potential to successfully take the Void Genome into their bodies. Shu had the qualifications. And, if it all came down to it, I suspect that Suzaku would be able to viably absorb the genome."_

_"And what about me? Would I be able to hold the power?"_

_"If it didn't kill you, it wouldn't do you much good. Your own Geass would overpower the genome and kill it from within you, rendering it null and void. That being said . . . as a Geass wielder, you are most likely completely immune to the Apocalypse Virus, due to the stability of your Geass cells. That's about as much as I can tell you for right now, Lelouch."_

_"So, the Power of the King, the Void Genome, is comparable to the power of a Geass . . . . Ouma Shu and I are bound by more than just royalty it seems . . . . This could be greatly useful in achieving my goals . . . . But first, we'd need to retrieve the third Void Genome, and give Shu back his power. Then we will make our move to take Tsutsugami Gai out of the picture, and seal our ties with the fledgling kingdom of Japan."_

_"Hm. You make the most interesting faces when you're plotting, Lelouch."_

_"We're going to need Ouma Shu alive if this plan is going to work. I want you, Suzaku and Jeremiah to head to Loop 7 immediately. Use the Knightmare Frames. Find Ouma Shu and make sure that he gets back here alive."_

_"And what of Yuzuriha Inori?"_

_"Bring her as well. I suspect that neither of them will go anywhere without the other."_

_"Much like you and a certain brunette I know . . . ."_

_"Be quiet, C.C.. This has nothing to do with Suzaku and I! Beside, their personal connection is not the only reason I'm interested in her."_

_"Oh?"_

_"I want to know why the sound of her singing voice causes genomic resonance that reverses the mutation of the Geass cells. You saw it too; I know you want to know as well."_

_"Fair enough. I'll go summon the troops, then."_

_"C.C., make sure the GHQ do not know you're there, or that you were ever there in the first place."_

_"I got it. Goodbye, Lelouch."_


	2. lbus Eques, Niger Rex

"Ummm. Do you possibly have something a little less ... fancy, Nunnali-hime?" Shu asked incredulously as he turned, gazing at himself from all possible angles in the reflection of the mirror. He was garbed in a neatly tailored cream-colored dress shirt, with a black jacket, detailed with a delicate leaf-vine pattern in gold thread over the shoulders and collar, and black silk breeches that went down to his knees, where they disappeared into a pair of expensive looking black leather boots. An unnecessarily long and gaudy scarlet red cloak cascaded down his back, the ends connected just under his throat by a gold medallion, immediately beneath the cream silk cravat that adorned his neck.

"You are a king, Shu-kun. You should be dressed like one." Nunnali declared, eyeing Shu's elaborately dressed form with approval.

"True, but ... even though I am a king ... I've never dressed like this in my entire life. I feel like such a giant eyesore ..." Shu replied sheepishly.

"But now you and Inori-chan match! Like a king and his queen!" Nunnali insisted, a slightly mischievous gleam in her blue eyes.

Shu felt the heat rise in his cheeks, and he pointedly avoided catching Inori's gaze in the mirror, though he didn't miss the faint pinkish tint on her own face.

Just then the doors behind the small party opened and a uniformed servant scurried in. "Announcing His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Lelouch Vi'Britannia! And the esteemed Knight of Zero, Lord Suzaku Kururugi!" he called as two tall male figures strode into the room, bringing in an air of nobility and control with them.

Shu's eyes widened, and he felt Inori instinctively press herself up against him. He knew without a doubt that this was indeed the Emperor of Britannia, he would have known that without any sort of introduction, that was how powerful his aura of command was. His amethyst purple gaze was so clear, it was as if he were looking straight through those around him, but at the same time, it was so unbelievably focused, there was no mistaking what his purpose in being here was.

The brunette striding alongside the dark-haired, white-clad king was unfamiliar to Shu, but the servant had announced that this was the infamous Kururugi Suzaku, Knight of Zero and personal guard of the Emperor himself. He looked younger than Shu had thought he would have, but the icy cold gleam in his emerald green eyes made him appear older at the same time. Those were the eyes of someone who had seen the horrors of the world first-hand and had taken them in and turned them into his strength. Shu wondered if his own eyes looked anything like the brown-haired Knight's.

"Brother! Suzaku!" Nunnali cried happily as the duo approached.

Lelouch's fey-violet eyes flickered over to where his sister sat in her wheelchair, and he gave her a warm smile, "Hello, Nunnali. Thank you for seeing to it that our guests have been treated well." He said in that same silky-smooth voice Shu faintly remembered in his delusions.

"It was my pleasure, Brother." The blue-eyed girl replied with an affectionate smile in return.

Lelouch's piercing gaze turned back towards where Shu stood with Inori clinging to his new cape, gazing over his shoulder at the Emperor with wary crimson eyes. "So, you are Ouma Shu. I'm glad to see you up on your feet instead of thrashing about in your sleep."

It took Shu a minute to find his voice. He swallowed hard, "Y-Yes. Thank you for helping me. Inori told me it was you who ordered our removal from Loop 7, and that you were the one who had my arm treated."

Lelouch's expression, unreadable under the mask of aloof amusement he wore, did not change in the slightest. "I'm pleased I could be of assistance, Ouma-kun." The raven-haired king said benignly, before his gaze drifted away from Shu and Inori once again. "Nunnali, Euphie was looking for you earlier, and I told her I'd send you her way when I found you." Lelouch said coolly to his sister, almost offhandedly.

Nunnali's blue eyes brightened, "Oh! Then I shouldn't keep Euphie-neesan waiting! Do you know where she is, Brother?"

"She said she would be in the garden for a while, so you might want to check there first."

Lelouch turned his fell-orbs to the servant standing unobtrusively by the door, "You, help Nunnali find Princess Euphemia." He commanded, authority dripping from his voice. The servant bowed low, "At once, Your Majesty!" he stated, coming up from his bow to immediately take the handles of Nunnali's wheelchair from C.C., who backed away expectantly.

"I'll see you later, Shu-kun, Inori-chan, Suzaku, Brother, C.C.-san!" the princess called over her shoulder as the servant wheeled her out of the room.

Shu and Inori watched the scene with the distinct impression that Lelouch was getting rid of all unwanted ears in the room, and now that they were gone, Shu assumed he could speak freely without offending anyone. Steeling his resolve, Shu opened his mouth and began to speak the words he'd been mulling over in his mind since he'd awoken.

"Lelouch-sama... please do not mistake my meaning, I am very grateful to you for your role in saving my life, and Inori's, but... what do you want with me...? I know this goes beyond my being the rightful King of Japan. There is... something you want from me, isn't there...?"

Lelouch and Suzaku shared a quick look at one another, and Lelouch's smile widened. " ... You are indeed perceptive, Ouma-kun. It is indeed a credit to one of your blood. There is something I want, yes. But not necessarily from you. You are the means of getting what I want. And as such, I am willing to help you reclaim what has been taken from you. Namely... your homeland, and your birthright." Lelouch purred in such a way that sent a shiver down Shu's spine.

Suzaku stepped forward then, "Please, Ouma-sama. Lelouch puts it in a way that sounds underhanded, but... he really does mean well. He really will help you reclaim Japan from the GHQ." He said in a voice that was edged with steel, but blunted by a sort of pleading.

Shu was surprised, astonished, completely caught off guard by the Emperor's offer of help. '... Why? I know Lelouch said he had ulterior motives for doing this, but... what does that have to do with me...? I've lost my power, been rejected by my kingdom... can't he just take what he wants without involving me or Inori?'

"You are surprised by offer, no?" Lelouch's voice made him jump, his focus immediately snapping back into reality.

Shu hesitated, but after a few moments, he nodded in the affirmative. "Yes. Though ... I cannot figure out why I am worth saving. What value do I have to you and your plans ...? I don't understand why you bothered to save me. If there's something you want, but not from me, why can't you just take it on your own? I doubt there's anyone out there that could actually stop you ... So why rescue me and Inori and smuggle us out of Japan? What's the purpose in that?" he said slowly, letting his inner-self create the words.

Suzaku opened his mouth to reply, but then closed it again, with a somewhat hesitant glance at his king. Lelouch nodded at him to continue.

"Ouma-sama ..." the brown-haired knight started out softly, "for the past couple years, almost immediately after Lelouch took the throne, we've been ... monitoring the situation in Japan. We have several agents inside the GHQ, and in various other organizations such as the Kuhouin Group, and your rebellion group, Funeral Parlor."

Shu's eyes widened slightly, and he felt Inori flinch beside him, _'Funeral Parlor?!'_

"For the most part, our observations yielded little ... but a few months ago, several rather ... interesting events occurred. The first, was the theft of one of what we then learned were called Void Genomes by Yuzuriha-san. It was the first time we'd heard of such a thing, and since then, we've discovered a number of things regarding the genome. However, the second thing we learned, from our sources inside both the GHQ and Funeral Parlor, that the genome had been absorbed by a certain individual." Suzaku went on, his dark green gaze heavy and intense. "We learned your identity from our agents inside Funeral Parlor, and after discovering that you are the lost heir to the throne of Japan ... we waited."

"Waited?" Shu echoed, "Why?"

"Because it wasn't our place to interfere," Lelouch answered, "You seemed to have everything under control for the time being, so we left you to your own devices."

"What made you change your mind ...?" Shu asked icily.

"The Second Apocalypse, more or less ..." the black haired male replied with a shrug, "After that particular incident ... we began to look closer into the movements of the GHQ, and found their plan to eliminate Loop 7, along with the fact that you and several other people of interest were inside that area. Ironically, we also have an agent inside your school, one you probably have meet and associated with, so we knew the whole situation with the rumors, the change of command, and your rather brilliant plan of using the Void Ranking System to create order and supply yourselves with the necessary resources for not only your survival, but your eventual escape."

It was Shu's turn to flinch as he was abruptly reminded of those pain-filled times as the so-called king of a crumbling kingdom, and the end of his missing arm twinged painfully. It was not something he wanted to remember, any more than he wanted to remember what had happened to his sister, Mana, and to hear what he had been condemned for be praised ... it didn't sit well with him. But, even so, he still had a question.

"When you say 'we', you mean ... you and your intelligence squad ...?"

Lelouch looked pleased by the query, "No, when I say 'we', I mean C.C., Suzaku and myself. Suzaku, C.C. and I are the only ones privy to the Void Genome/GHQ information. Those agents we have report directly to me, and no one else."

Shu closed his eyes briefly, "I see ..." he whispered, "And the agent you placed in my school ...? Who was it?"

Lelouch smiled, "His name was Gino Weinberg, and he is one of my Knights of the Rounds."

"Weinberg-senpai?!" Shu gasped, an image of the outgoing, energetic, blonde, aquamarine blue-eyed upperclassman flashing before his eyes. "Weinberg-senpai is ..." he trailed off, feeling the true gravity of what Lelouch had said. _'A Knight of the Rounds ...?! One of the twelve strongest fighters in the whole world?! In my school?!'_

However, one very prominent thing stood out in Shu's mind at that moment; that he had no recollection of seeing Gino Weinberg since they were all sealed off inside Loop 7.

"I had him pull out when you led the assault on the GHQ amid your exodus out of the sector, though I ordered him to disappear from among the student body when they cut off Loop 7. I couldn't risk him being caught, by the GHQ, or by you, Shu-kun, for that matter. Though I doubt anyone really noticed he was gone. That is just how Gino works. You all acknowledge him when he's present, but he purposely doesn't do anything that would leave a lasting impression on people. That's the genius of it all, really." The violet-eyed male said, as if perceiving what Shu was thinking at that moment.

"Officially, Gino was never at the school at all." Suzaku continued for the Emperor, "We provided him with enough paperwork that anyone looking into his background would come up with the same story; that he was just your average teenager who moved into Tokyo with some relatives after his parents died. Your typical transfer student. Nothing more, nothing less."

"B . . . But that doesn't answer my original question, what was the reason you even bothered to rescue Inori and I?!" Shu demanded, feeling a bit overwhelmed by everything at the moment, "And why are you telling me all of this?!"

"Calm yourself, Shu-kun. We were getting to that." Lelouch retorted, his unperturbed behavior persisting, despite of the brown-haired king's defensive hostility. "To answer your first question, why I deemed it necessary to rescue you and Yuzuriha-san . . . it was because I . . . admire you, and didn't want to see you die yet. You fascinated me, you and your power . . . . Saving Yuzuriha Inori as well was . . . partly a good will gesture, and partially due to the insatiable curiosity I have concerning the power of the Void. It was as much for her sake as it was for yours."

The young Emperor's jewel-like eyes glittered intensely, "To answer your second question, is that not what allies do? I'm trying to gain your trust by telling you the truth. You are not the only one with a power known as the Power of the King, so why should the two of us not work together to achieve our respective goals?"

"Are we allies . . . Emperor Lelouch . . . ?" Shu snapped, his voice low and sharp, a tone he hadn't taken since before he'd been betrayed and cast out, "Are we?"

The raven-haired male's misleading smile vanished, leaving behind a look of absolute seriousness. "I would certainly like to be . . . with your consent."

"My consent . . . ?" the displaced King of Japan scoffed slightly, "And should I refuse to give it?"

"Then I shall have to take what I want in a manner that you may not like."

"Was that a threat, Lelouch-kun?"

"No." Lelouch purred, utterly pleased with himself, "Not a threat. Not towards you. I know you would like to save as many lives as possible. I would like to spare as many as possible, but if I have to, my methods will become . . . unsavory."

"Lelouch . . . !" Suzaku hissed quietly, a harsh note of warning in his voice.

Lelouch rolled his eyes slightly and cast a glance in his Knight's direction. "Relax, Suzaku. All I want is a peaceful, working alliance with the cast off King of Japan." He murmured dryly, before turning his attention back to his guests, "It is mutually beneficial, Ouma-kun. I have no intention of hurting you, Yuzuriha-san, or any of your people. I will help you free Japan from the United Forces and the GHQ."

"You're still evading the main issue here, Lelouch-kun . . . ." Shu said softly, carefully. "What is it . . . that you want from me . . . and Inori?"

"Lelouch." A lithe, teasing voice called from nearby, startling both Inori and Shu, though Lelouch and Suzaku merely looked over in the direction of the voice.

"Stop fooling around. You're only making things more complicated for everyone." the yellow-haired woman, C.C., who had remained silent up until this moment, said, her amber eyes glittering with amusement. "Just tell him you want to study the power of the Void, and Inori's connection to it, because it's so similar to the Geass."

"Geass? What's Geass, and what does it have to do with Void?" Shu asked sharply, his suspicion reaching its peak.

"That's sensitive information, Ouma Shu. If you want to know . . . you should accept what Lelouch is offering you. What does it matter what Lelouch wants, as long as it coincides with your own goals, ne?" the strange woman with the brilliant amber eyes purred, almost teasingly. There was something depthless and ancient about the woman, something that sent a trill of muted awe through him.

She did have a point though. For now . . . he could go along with the Emperor, because his offer, realistically, was too good to pass up. If their roles were reversed, he would probably have done the same thing. Besides that, there was something, a power similar to Void, apparently called Geass, and as they wanted to study the power of the Void, he also wanted to know more about this Geass.

Shu glanced back at Inori, still clinging to his cape. "What do you think?" he asked softly.

Inori's crimson eyes looked up at him, scared, but grimly determined, "Whatever Shu wants to do . . . I will follow." She whispered.

Shu closed his eyes and let out a long, even breath. After a minute, his brown eyes opened again, and he stared at Lelouch with a steely gaze. "For now . . . we are allies, Lelouch-san."

Lelouch smiled, an expression of genuine warmth and delight, but laced with forbidding intent.

"Welcome to Britannia, Shu-kun."


End file.
